Winnipeg woman hopes to donate liver to girl with rare disease

A Winnipeg woman and transplant donor hasstepped forward to helpAllexis Siebrecht, an11-year-old girl with a rare, life-threateningliver disease.

• Winnipeg family desperate for liver donor for girl, 11

Siebrecht was diagnosed withBiliary Atresia when she was a baby. It's adisease that affects 10 to 20,000 infants, according to the Canadian Liver Foundation. The disease impedes bile transport from the liver to the small intestine, which results in tissue damage.

Siebrecht's family appealed to the public recently with a GoFundMepage. They were trying toraise money fortreatment and hoping to find a donor.

That's where Samantha Lussier comes in. having never met the girl, Lussierheard about Allexis's situation and decided to see if she was a match.

While Lussier has already gone through a series of screening processes with promising results, she now has to go to Toronto Sunday for more tests to see if she can donate part of her liver.

"I've never met her ...She's young;we don't want to get her hopes up so we're thinking probably best just to wait until we're in the hospital and we'll meet her in Toronto," said Lussier. "I think that will be pretty emotional for her as well as for me."

If she is a match, surgery could go ahead next Friday. While things have gone well thus far, Lussiersaid she's aware that once in Toronto she could find out she isn't the right match after all.

"I could get all the way up to Friday, I could get all the way into the operating room to open me up and discover that I'm still not a match," said Lussier.

She issued a note of caution and is encouraging members of the public who think they might be a match to keep getting tested in case things don't go as planned in Toronto.

"So, as many people as possible see if they're a match and get that application in if they can."

Lussier has started a GoFundMe page to help pay for medical and travel expenses. Anyone interested in getting tested to see if they're a match with Allexiscan contactcontactLizSiebrechtat lizsiebrecht307@hotmail.com or visit theirGoFundMe pagefor more details.